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Black Boxes Located and in Indonesian Custody


What: Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 en route from Jakarta to Jakarta Halim Perdanakusuma Airport
Where: Indonesia
When: May 9th 2012
Who: 36 passengers, 6 crew and 2 Sukhoi official
Why: A report has been issued that the cockpit voice recorder was located Tuesday around 330 feet from the Sukhoi’s severed tail. The charred CVR may or may not have been damaged. Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee is leading the investigation and has custody of the box. 70 Russian experts are assisting.

Chief Tatang Kurniadi said, “We have an advanced laboratory in Gambir to examine the black box.”

Retrieval of victims remains continues. Most have been flown to Jakarta in body bags for DNA identification. More body bags will be flown to Jakarta
before the recovery mission can be concluded.

The Indonesian government announced they would pay Rp 50 million (US$5,400) in compensation to each of the families of the crash victims. Funds will be provided by the state-owned insurance company PT Jasa Raharja.

Government compensation is separate from the compensation from Russia-based Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association. The company has agreed to pay US$50,000 in compensation to each of the victims’ families.

An identification team is using fingerprint identification, forensic pathology, forensic anthropology, forensic odontology and DNA to attempt to identify the 28 remains recovered so far.

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North Sea Rescuers Exemplary Performance


Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer Mark McEwan


What: Bond Offshore Helicopters Ltd. Eurocopter EC225LP Super Puma Mk2+
Where: 24 nautical miles off the coast of Aberdeen, North Sea
When: May 10, 2012
Who: 16 passengers, 0 fatalities
Why: The Bond helicopter was en route from Aberdeen Airport to the Maersk Resilient drilling rig when an emergency developed.

Pilots had to make a controlled descent into the North Sea when the gearbox oil pressure tanked. With the use of flotation equipment, the ditched helicopter stayed afloat.

The two crew and twelve passengers were safely recovered by afternoon. A cautionary measure suspending Eurocopter EC225 flights has been issued pending investigation. Examination revealed that the helicopter suffered a crack to the gearbox shaft.

The passengers were employed by Halliburton, Ensco, Brundt and Stag, and Conoco. The Jasmine field is operated by Conoco Phillips.

The rescue was coordinated by the Aberdeen coastguard, who was alerted at 12.15pm, and RNLI lifeboats. The initial call indicated that added that all everyone was on the raft. Nine were flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and five were taken by life boat.

In George’s Point of View

The choice to suspend the EC225 model until the kinks are worked out is a smart move. Better monitoring of potential cracks to the gearbox shaft may eliminate more “catastrophic failures” like the one that Eurocopter that crashed in 2009. In that event, the operator had put off replacing the main rotor gearbox, resulting in the death of 14 offshoremen and two helicopter crew.

The skill and training of the (May 10, 2012) 100% successful pilots and rescue crew cannot be commended highly enough. Sure, the media is calling this a textbook rescue, but somehow that description feels inadequate to me, leaving out the heroic human element involved. These guys are heroes.